Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt has said a string of emails between his office and News Corporation over its bid for BSkyB did not influence his eventual decision to approve the takeover, as his special adviser Adam Smith resigned over the row.

Jeremy Hunt arrives at the House of Commons for prime minister’s questions (Picture: Reuters)

Mr Hunt told the Commons he ‘strictly followed due process’ throughout the bid process following claims made by James Murdoch at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday.

Labour accused Mr Hunt of ‘backing the bid, not judging the bid’ and called for his resignation after Mr Smith admitted he ‘went too far’ in his contact with News Corporation.

Mr Hunt assumed responsibility for ruling on the bid in December 2010 after Cabinet colleague Vince Cable was stripped of the powers for saying he had ‘declared war’ on News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch.

The culture secretary eventually ruled in favour of the £8billion takeover but Mr Murdoch Snr abandoned it amid public anger over the phone hacking affair.

In a statement Mr Smith admitted the correspondence with News Corporation lobbyist Frederic Michel suggested ‘too close a relationship’ and insisted he had acted without the culture secretary’s approval.

Speaking during prime minister’s questions, David Cameron said Mr Hunt had his ‘full support’, but Labour leader Ed Miliband said a ‘shadow of sleaze hangs over this government’.

Both Mr Cameron and Mr Hunt have called for the Leveson Inquiry to run its course, with the culture secretary asking for his own appearance at the inquiry to be brought forward so he could respond to the claims made yesterday by Mr Murdoch Jnr.

‘I am totally confident that when I present my evidence the public will see I conducted the process scrupulously throughout,’ Mr Hunt told MPs.

Rupert Murdoch is making his first appearance at the Leveson Inquiry (Picture: Getty)

The culture secretary said he thought Mr Smith had ‘overstepped the mark’ but praised his ‘integrity and decency’.

Labour said Mr Hunt’s conduct had ‘fallen very far short’ of the ‘quasi-judicial’ role he assumed during the bid process.

The emails released yesterday suggested a steady flow of information between Mr Smith and News Corporation lobbyist Frederic Michel since June 2010.

In his resignation statement Mr Smith said: ‘While it was part of my role to keep News Corporation informed throughout the BskyB bid process, the content and extent of my contact was done without authorisation from the secretary of state.’

He continued: ‘I do not recognise all of what Fred Michel said, but nonetheless I appreciate that my activities at times went too far and have, taken together, created the perception that News Corporation had too close a relationship with the department, contrary to the clear requirements set out by Jeremy Hunt and the permanent secretary that this needed to be a fair and scrupulous process.’

Mr Smith added: ‘Whilst I firmly believe that the process was in fact conducted scrupulously fairly, as a result of my activities it is only right for me to step down as special adviser to Jeremy Hunt.’